I'm wondering what moron in a hurry sees any similarity or would be confused here?

* Separately, on the headline, I actually came up with this headline independently, but as I was preparing this I saw that The Daily used the same line. It's too tempting not to use it, but did want to acknowledge that they got it out first...

"Separately, on the headline, I actually came up with this headline independently, but as I was preparing this I saw that The Daily used the same line. It's too tempting not to use it, but did want to acknowledge that they got it out first..."

Two people independently coming up with the same idea at the same time? Not bloody likely, you thief

I'm wondering what moron in a hurry sees any similarity or would be confused here?

You can't possibly be this idiotic. Never mind, yes you can. The similarity isn't that the couch itself looks like Brando, but rather it's that it's called the Brando line of sofas. Someone might think, I don't know, that the Brando estate is behind the sofa line.

Re:

Troll much??
Lets get real for an instant. I think Mike knows what the issue is here. But lets face it, the guy is dead. I dont think anyone really thinks ol Marlon personally endorsed, designed, built, or owned this couch. As for his estate... who gives a crap. They didnt act. They didnt make him famous. They didnt design, build, or own the couch. So why should they get money for it? why should they get money for their dead relative? What are they going to do bury him again???
Get a job

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Unfortunately, enough people got together and convinced various law-making bodies that a celebrity's persona is a property interest that they work to cultivate, and that they should be able to pass such property down to their next of kin as inheritance. Because apparently the media they appear in (on top of actual money and typical property passed down) isn't quite enough to sustain their brood.

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We have many laws that need to be changed and updated. This one needs updated for time. Logically thinking, with new "artists" being discovered every year if limits, are not placed on these "property interests" we are going to run out of names eventually. Now with one trademarking a letter of their last name , well there are only 25 more. As for their next of kin, If this goes on forever, well,you can do the math. Like I said its not that they want the money so that they can dig him up and bury him all over again. They need to use their inheritance (money) to get jobs.
I know its a little harsh to say but, Too bad for them. Thats what everyone else does.

Brando

Re: Re: Re: Re:

Well, let's not take it to unrealistic extremes; trademark law is quite mindful of exhaustion issues, even as they approve of theoretically scarce marks (see the discussion of "color depletion" in Qualitex). Rather than exhaustion, publicity rights are more about mere overreach. The whole scheme is a kind of quasi-IP borne of entitlement rather than incentive [they don't really "promote the progress" by most yardsticks] that states are still feeling out; I'm sure they'll eventually expand too far and require a judicial pin-prick to deflate. Until then, we have to just fight to contain them.

Re: Brando

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Unrealistic extremes? Really? Like 99 year patents? Or getting a copyright on the human genome? Or trademarking letters of the alphabet? Wouldn't it be better to stop this spoiled child syndrome now, then say, before children get sued for singing songs around a campfire? Or having your cell ringtone classed as a public broadcast of copyrighted material? If these spoiled children have their way we will have to expand the privilege to include their entire ancestral line. I'Lll say it again they need to learn how to support themselves and not rely (or profiteer) on the accomplishments of their dead relatives.

what is wrong with this community?!

Seriously, I've been reading techdirt for years and agree with 95% of what Mike and his writers have to say, but one thing that just annoys the hell out of me is that no one can have an opposite opinion to the masses on this blog without being called

a) troll
b) shill
c) [insert common insult]

etc etc

If the ideas portrayed here are to stand any ground we need to win debates on their own merit, not flag posts as trolling and have them hidden simply because they have an opposite or inflammatory opinion.

I've been loosing interest in the comments area here as debate is simply stifled and it just becomes an attack on the other opinion.

A lot of people here need to grow up, stop hiding behind anonymity and debate the subjects at hand without name calling and without resulting the abc's above.

Re: what is wrong with this community?!

Up yours! That would not be fun at all. We don't come here to debate anything, but to insult each other or to agree or disagree with the insults of others. That's all. If you want to debate, go run for office somewhere.